QB Wings and Fuselage Arrive!

     When I last left you, the delivery had been prepared by Partain Trading Company, and the truck had been loaded at Van's and had begun the journey to Lancair for one more pickup before heading east.  The driver, Don Furr, called me the next day and gave me the ETA of 9:00 a.m. Tuesday February 7.  The good news was that it was a day earlier than I expected.  The bad news was that the weather was forecast to be terrible that day; freezing rain... and it also happened to be our 36th anniversary.  Oh well; we were glad to celebrate the anniversary a day earlier, too.  I put out requests for friends to assist and made the reservation for the utility trailer and furniture blankets I would need for the transfer.  I got the cashier's check made out to Stewart Transportation for the balance due on delivery, and while researching the company information for my vendor's list I learned that the actual name of the company was Stewart Transport.  That turned out to be an important distinction, and after checking with the dispatcher I had to have the cashier's check replaced with another made out with the correct name.  That was easy enough, and it made me glad that I did my homework.

     Tuesday morning I woke up very early and did the last bit of prep work, buying donuts and cookies and setting up the coffeepot in the shop for my crew.  The dawn was dreary and foggy, but the rain hadn't really started yet.  Don called at 8:30 and said he was about 25 miles away; soon volunteers started showing up.  At precisely 9:00 a great big huge truck showed up directly in front of my house and I was surprised to see the trailer painted in Factory Five Racing livery.  I met Don, telling him I was surprised he made it all the way to my house, and explained that the road ahead (marked Dead End) actually did go through, but it was a very rough dirt road.  He was unfazed, and showed me how we'd offload the parts.  The trailer had a built-in ceiling crane with folding extension rails that would allow him to winch the parts out of the truck and onto a large four-wheeled cart that he could use for the transfer.  As it turned out we didn't use the rental trailer at all, and we got all the parts transferred in four trips... or maybe I should call them slips, because by then the rain had started and it was freezing as it landed on the street.  The first section of the course was very slick indeed, but we were careful and stayed safe.  We covered the uncrated parts with plastic sheet as we offloaded them, and thankfully the heavy rain held off long enough to allow us to get the job done without everything getting completely soaked.

     Once the transfer was done, I did a cursory inspection and found everything to be in order and in good condition, so I signed the paperwork and sent Don on his way, thanking him for all his help.  I finally took a moment to take a big breath and relax... it was done... all my big airplane parts were finally here, safe and sound.  We snacked, chatted and took some photos.

     From left to right, my crew was Shunsuke Shibata, Herb Schulke, Dan Strayer, me, my daughter Naomi and Andrew Haines.  Before they all headed out, we got the wings into my wingstand.  I was disappointed that they didn't quite fit the way I expected they would, but it would do for now.

     I managed to get the rental trailer back to U-Haul before my daily deadline so I saved an extra day of rental.  After I got home and had lunch, it was time to begin inventory and take a few photos of my own.  I had to laugh at the way my name was spelled on some items... but I'm used to that.

     Over the next few days I continued with inventory and photos.  I relocated the wings to the garage so that I could make modifications to the wing stand.  I unwrapped the ailerons and flaps to inspect them, then repacked them and put them away until needed.  Inventory of the large parts went relatively quickly, but I did find one part that got scuffed sometime before it was boxed and shipped.  Although it could still be considered serviceable, the scuffed area has probably been exposed long enough that corrosion might become an issue.  I'll check with Van's and see what they say.

     Then it was time to inventory all the bags of little parts.  I've only just begun that stage... but I've a guess how it will go.

     So I've crossed another finish line... so that I can start another race.  Such is life.  But as I've said in other posts on social media, it's official: now I will always have something to do... for the rest of my life.  My future path will cover a lot more ups and downs (see "Such is life" above), but it will be a great journey in any case... and it will all be covered here.
(Special thanks to Shunsuke Shibata and Dan Strayer for taking photos of this event for me)